A new start
by NatBBfan
Summary: What if Drew was deployed again just in the middle of a major crisis with Rick? How would he deal with the possibility of divorce in a war zone so far away from home? Who will be there for him? AU where Brianna does not exist and Drew becomes bestfriend with his new assistant, a 42 year-old former lawyer who is new in the military and is starting a new life.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own The Night Shift, nor any of its characters. I just own my storyline and my OC Erin.

PROLOGUE

He had been at the base in Bagram for three months now. Three months in which he did nothing more than work long hours, continuously ask for extra time and try and get some rest at night. Anything to keep his mind busy and prevent it from thinking and spinning. Thinking about what he left at home when he was again deployed, all of a sudden, at the exact time when Rick and he were going through a rough patch, the roughest ever, in their relationship. Since they began to see each other they were forced to be apart depending on assignments and deployments, but as soon as they got married they became used to live together and they both felt complete, setting up their own easy and peaceful routine. That lasted for about three years, until Rick started traveling nationwide when he was promoted again. Drew was very happy for Rick, and he was supportive and encouraging him, but he also started to miss him greatly. So Rick being away on work on a regular basis had finally taken a toll on them. At first they tried to make the best of it by spending all weekends together, not leaving any room for time with friends or family, but soon Rick had to travel on some weekends too, and suddenly Drew found himself lonely at home, with nobody to share his experiences at work, his thoughts, his worries, beyond his coworkers and friends at the hospital. They all noticed that and once more they helped him go through it. They remembered how he became a mess when Rick broke up with him years ago, and they were closely watching for him.

But the situation even got worse when Rick first talked about divorce just days before they knew about the new and unexpected deployment. He loved Rick and he was terrified when he said the word, but he also knew that they could not go on like that for much longer. They both deserved to be happy. He also trusted him and was positive that they could work this out together, side by side, like they had done before, but being deployed overseas was not going to help matters. So when they said good-bye to each other at home the day he was flying (not at the gate in the base airfield, nor in the parking lot as they used to do on similar occasions), he was afraid that this time it may be a final farewell.

He cherished and also dare his telephone calls with Rick. Sometimes things seemed to be back to normal for a moment there, and that made him think that they could fix it, but they seldom had the chance to have a quiet conversation, as Rick often sounded distracted or too busy and in a hurry to do something else. And he dreaded their Skype calls the most, as he could not stand the way they looked at each other on the screen. No trace of any love could be found in their eyes.

On the bright side, all those long hours of hard work since he had arrived had pay off and he had been promoted to major six weeks ago. He was thrilled with his promotion and his first impulse was to call Rick and tell him right away, but then he thought that he might be busy and he did not want anyone to ruin that moment, not even Rick, so he called his night shift friends in San Antonio instead, who were all genuinely delighted for him. He just texted Rick with the news, and he got a text back the following day congratulating him, too cold and too late.

Some perks came along with the new rank: higher pay, better work schedule (if that is possible being a doctor in a war zone) and an assistant that would help him with paperwork. He was not comfortable at all with that part of the job, his natural places were the ER and the OR, so he was relieved when he was told that he would have an assistant under his command for all his non-medical duties, but he was somehow disappointed when he learned that his new assistant was also new to the army, having only recently joined the military. Little did he know when they were first introduced that she was going to turn his world upside down in every possible way.

Erin Kane was also in a bad place, both literally and metaphorically speaking. An Austin born and raised and an only child in a third generation Irish family (her father a bank clerk, her mother a nurse), she attended an exclusive Catholic school run by nuns. She excelled at every subject, and also played golf remarkably well from an early age. She earned a degree in Law from Harvard and after graduating she went back home to marry her childhood best friend, Owen, who lived just across the street and run his father´s construction business. She started working for a law firm and completely forgot about her dreams of helping change the world. So when her twin boys left home to go to college to the other part of the country and her husband wanted to move to his family ranch two hours away from Austin, she felt that nothing held her in her home town, her parents long gone, and it was time to pursue her dreams. Therefore, she quit her job, agreed an amicable separation with Owen and enlisted in the army as administrative staff.

And here she was, at 42, thousands of miles away from home, in a war zone, in the army with no prior military training, at a new job in the medical field, newly separated, on her own for the first time in her life, and with a new boss younger that her that apparently was not exactly happy to have her as his new assistant.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 A challenging project

Disclaimer: I do not own The Night Shift, nor any of its characters or plots. I just own my storyline and my OC Erin.

Life on an army base just in the middle of a war zone was something Erin was not definitely prepared for, and she noticed it the minute she set foot on the base. She was an adult, she knew from firsthand experience what real life was, but this military routine had nothing to do with anything she had seen or experienced before. She was thankful she was new at her job so she had to be extra focused during the first weeks, spending most of her spare time working late hours, but both luckily and unluckily for her, she was used to deal with all kind of paperwork and she had it under control in no time. That was certainly a relief, as she did not want to give her new boss any excuse to question her suitability for the job. Her new life was hard enough without having to deal with a moody boss beyond what was strictly required. But it also meant that she had spare time again. Practicing sports had always helped her to clear her head and disconnect from the world, but this time no golf courses were around, and jogging outside the base was out of the question, so she had to give up two of her dearest hobbies.

As it was quite a big base, there was a Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) big tent, which had amenities such as an Internet café, a DVD library, video game consoles, pool tables, and so on, and also a gym. So she started spending time at the MWR and the gym, and Drew was a regular there.

At first he would just nod his head as a form of nonverbal greeting from a distance when he entered the MWR or the gym and saw her there, usually with some of the doctors and nurses that worked with them. Most of them were younger than her but they really got along from the get-go. She was thrilled to see that she had a lot in common with these people that were in their twenties (even the younger ones were nearly the same age as her sons), and soon started to enjoy her spare time.

On the contrary, Drew dreaded his. He was still reeling from what now seemed a definitive break up with Rick and all he wanted to do was to keep his head away from it, and if it could be doing overtime, so be it. What a pity that he found his new assistant to be the most efficient person he had ever met (he had to give her that credit), and that left almost nothing for overtime (just incoming injured soldiers). Most of his acquaintances from prior tours had left and certainly he was not in the mood to make new friends. All he wanted to do was grieve for his broken marriage quietly during his time deployed; perhaps this way he would be able to face Rick and the aftermath of their breakup at the end of this tour.

Having that in mind, he almost jumped for joy when, having been called to his superior office first thing in the morning after a long shift, he was appointed to carry out a new program pursuing global solutions to improve the day-to-day work of healthcare personnel on the base, given the limited resources they had and the special conditions under which they worked every day. Not only was he going to be able to make a difference to their current patients, but it will also help him to keep his mind busy. It also happened to be a part of a major pilot plan on army resources that could lead to a whole new frame of medical work organization in the military, so a great deal was at stake, and he felt the weight of the responsibility on him.

He already had some ideas about the main aims that should be addressed and preferably achieved with his project, he knew his job well and he knew how it could be improved after so many years being an army doctor. This time he did not call or text Rick as he didn´t want him to ruin this moment; he just emailed his friends in San Antonio. And suddenly it hit him that a huge part of this challenging task also involved gathering information, doing research, writing reports, and eventually public speaking. He was well aware that he was not good at any of those, so he needed help.

And as he was thinking about that he entered the MWR and there she was, laughing at some lame joke one of her friends was telling her while getting coffee on her way to her desk at the main office. He then remembered that when she first arrived he had been told that she was a well-known lawyer back in Texas with almost twenty years of experience in court. Her resume had been sitting on his night table since the day she started working as he never felt the urge to read it, always being too tired and not too much interested in reading it. He then realized that she might be the right person for this new job. Not only was she very efficient and diligent with paperwork, but she had also wide experience in negotiation and litigation. And it also crossed his mind that she was also a discreet person, she kept the information she handled while working to herself and she was not fond on gossiping either. He realized then that she was the right person for this job. Well, he thought, let´s talk to her.

"Good morning Kane. A word, please?" he said as he approached her pouring a coffee for himself. She quickly passed him over the sugar before he even thought about it. That was also something he was beginning to be aware of, she seemed to be always head of this thoughts and foreseeing what he needed to make things easier for him whenever they crossed paths. He just hoped she would be also willing to help in this huge task. "Good morning, Major. Of course", she quickly replied, trying to think if there was something that she did wrong during the last days, not being able to find anything and preparing herself for the first exchange of words with her boss after weeks working together.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own The Night Shift, nor any of its characters or plots. I just own my storyline and my OC Erin.

Drew was still amazed at how easily he had convinced her. Well, to tell the truth, she needed no convincing at all since she found it very interesting the minute her boss told her about it. He did warn her about the long hours, the foreseeable difficulties and the complete lack of economic reward, but she was so thrilled to be given the chance that she only took into consideration that finally she might have a go at changing the world (a little part of it, at least) after all. And she had to admit to herself that she was also flattered that her usually moody and quiet boss had thought about her for the job. Erin was certain that he knew a lot of people in the military that were highly qualified for it, and she was very proud that he had offered it to her despite being new to the army and only knowing how she worked for a short period of time. "I must be doing something right", she happily thought.

The evening they started working on this huge project Erin surprised him by providing a comprehensive list containing a draft of the first actions to be carried out and an estimate time frame. Obviously she had worked on it on her spare time and sure it had been time-consuming by the high level of detail displayed, particularly in view of the fact that this was all new to her. As she handled it to him, she even gave him a brief presentation on the list itself and some other proposed changes. She was accurate yet succinct, and while she was doing it she was looking at him right in the eye; clearly she didn´t need to look at any notes to speak in public. As she finished, she looked at him waiting for a response, and Drew did not know what to say or how to thank her.

"Well,.. this is very good… I really have no words. It is a solid ground to star from. Great job, thank you very much", he said after a long silence.

"You´re welcome, major. I was hoping we could go over some of the items on the list and maybe you could help me with them, especially with the surgery related ones. I am afraid I am not familiar with some of the medical procedures yet. Or perhaps you were thinking about a completely different approach to the project and this is just…."

"Your approach is more than fine by me, Kane", he interrupted her."I would not know where to start and now we have a solid base to work from. No problem with the medical procedures. Please do not worry about that. I can go through all of them and you can rewrite it afterwards, I am afraid I am not very good at writing reports. This way you will also get to be familiar with all the medical terms."

And with that they started working together on a daily basis every evening. They were both surprised to see that any prior idea they had about each other was completely wrong. Definitely first impressions are shown to be very hard to change, but in this case they were changing very quickly. Erin was shocked to find out that Drew was a fair, compassionate, very shy and caring man (communication was not his first language but all of that was shown as soon as let his hard façade down), and, on the other hand, Drew found Erin to be one of the most enthusiastic people he had ever known; she always saw the positive side on everything and she had a high adaptation capacity. And those were qualities that he appreciated very much at this point of his life.

These long hours working late left little room for conversation, but somehow they were curious about each other and soon enough they started to share small pieces of information about themselves. That is how Erin learnt that Drew was married and they were going through a pretty rough patch in their relationship when he was suddenly deployed. He confessed her that he was not dealing well with the situation, as he really feared there would be no marriage to save once the tour will be over. Erin told him about her marriage, how she was married to her best friend for over twenty years, the emptiness she felt when her sons left home to go to college to the other side of the country and the way she was trying to build a new life for herself starting fresh at forty-two. She even encouraged him to try and save his marriage if he really was in love with his husband, and he was shocked to learn that the main reason she had to separate from Owen when the twins went to college was that she realized then that she had never been in love with him. She said he was lucky to have felt true love and that maybe he should pursue it.

As the days went by and almost without noticing it, they became close friends. It is amazing how certain circumstances and a common goal can bring people together, they both thought. Soon "Major", "Sir" and "Kane" gave way to "Drew" and "Erin" when not working. With Drew trying to be more in touch with Rick over the phone and Skype, Erin even had the chance to virtually meet him on the screen, and Drew spoke to Connor and Patrick, Erin´s twins, on the phone. They started to go to the MWR and the gym together, they shared their meals when their tight schedules allowed it and shortly the rumour mill at the base was focused on them. Drew laughed it off saying that maybe he had been in the closet way too long and nobody had noticed when Rick and him became public, and Erin did not take it very well as she was worried about possible impact given that she was completely new in the military. Even some of her new friends asked her about it, and she could not believe that she was given the impression that she was sleeping with her boss.

Drew tried to reassure her, telling her that an army base just in the middle of a war zone was a perfect microsystem for gossip no matter what she did, and that she should not care about it. But she found it very difficult to handle that situation and little by little she started to draw away from him much to her regret. He understood her reasons to do so, but also started to miss her company very much. All of a sudden just working together did not seem to be enough, and they tried to make the best out of the time they shared.

At that particular stage, Drew was informed by his superior that he had been chosen to attend an international Conference on medical and surgical practice maximizing the use of limited resources that was going to be held in Islamabad during four days the following week. He was told that it seemed to be the perfect fit for the project he was carrying out, and that all arrangements (military flights, hotel reservations and accreditations) had already been made, for both him and Erin Kane who was designated to attend the conference with him.

The prospect of attending such an interesting conference was really motivating, and he was not missing the fact that it would involve spending five days out of the base away from the war, and at a luxury hotel in Islamabad no less. But he did not know how to break the news to Erin, and how she was going to take it.


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own The Night Shift, nor any of its characters or plots. I just own my storyline and my OC Erin.

Surprisingly enough, she did not react when he broke the news, and that was nothing like her at all. At first he thought she had not heard him properly. As a matter of fact, she did look pretty tired and he could tell that something was off with her. The last days had been hard, with a lot of incoming injured soldiers and civilians, lots of overtime and also bad news from home. He was fully aware of the first part, but he did not know about the latter. Just the day before Owen had called her to let her know that Connor was in hospital after a car accident. He did his best to calm her, he explained that a friend from college was giving him a ride when they were suddenly hit by a small van that had run a red light. Thankfully neither of them was driving too fast and Connor had a concussion and a broken wrist. He had a cast on and he was admitted overnight as a precaution, doctors said he should be fine in a few days. Patrick was by his bedside from the beginning (he was the one that got the call from the police), Owen was flying to Boston that evening and he would keep her in the loop with developments. When she hung up the phone, she could not believe that one of his sons was in hospital and there was no way on earth that she could be with him. And then it hit her: she had been so selfish trying to build a new life for her that she had lost sight of the most important thing: the people she loved. Her sons might be at college in the other side of the country, but they still needed her. And she might not have been in love with her husband, but he would always be the father of her now grown-up children and he should not be flying to Boston on his own. She realized that she was being extremely disloyal to her family by starting fresh at that stage of her life. That night she could not sleep at all, and she was crying and checking her phone every five minutes until the following morning.

Her eyes were puffy red and obviously she had not slept well. "What´s wrong? Are you ok?", a very concerned Drew asked. She looked up at him trying to fight back tears and he knew something serious must had happened. "C´mon, come with me", he said, and he dragged her out of the small office adjacent to the ER to his own office down the hall. As soon as he closed the door she started crying and he stepped forward to hug her. She held him tight, putting her arms around his waist, placed her head on his shoulder, and let her emotions out. For the first time in twenty-four hours, she was not feeling lonely. They were like that for ten minutes, until Erin ran out of tears and stepped out of his hold. She was feeling she was blushing, she was so embarrassed. "I am so sorry, I didn´t mean to…", she whispered. "Don´t worry, any time. Will you please tell me what´s going on, Erin?" They both leant on the desk and she started talking. She told him everything: what had happened to Connor, how Owen had called her and she was now eagerly waiting for an update on Connor´s condition, that she thought that she had been very selfish and disloyal trying to pursue her dreams when she had a family that needed her… He understood exactly how conflicted she felt. There were times in life when it was very difficult to meet everybody´s expectations, even more if you were an overly responsible person, like Erin was. Like he himself was, too. Definitely, they had that in common. He had been down that road many times, trying to deal with his relationship with Rick and not upsetting his parents at the same time, striving to build a married life in between deployments and assignments, wishing to have the best training but being reluctant to spend time away from his husband… Yes, he knew that feeling very well, and the guilt and pain that usually came with it as decisions had to be made over the years. But he was a seasoned army doctor and she seemed to be experiencing all that for the first time.

So he told her that this was the way life goes on. That an accident should not make her regret her prior decisions. That nobody was going to love her less for staring a new life, and, if they did, then they did not really care about her. And that she should trust herself first and foremost. He took his time and said it the way he would talk to her younger sister, and she listened like she used to listen to her father, which was interesting to say the least as he was younger than her. She had forgotten how protective and caring he could be, and instantly regretted that lately she had drawn away from him due to gossip. "Don´t worry Erin, everything is goin' to be fine", he assured her. "Don´t mean to be rude, but how do you know for sure?" "Because it will be, trust me".

Drew was just out of his night shift and kept her company while she was waiting for an update on Connor. He had his own news that he had not been able to share with Erin during the days they had grown apart. Things seemed to be going much better between Rick and him, he had realized he was truly in love with him, as he had always been, and he did his best to rekindle their relationship from the distance. As a result of that now they spoke on the phone as much as they could and they even had plans for some renovations in their San Antonio home. And the word "adoption" had come up a couple of times. Drew was happy for the first time since he had been deployed and he was really glad to share it with Erin. "Had it not been for your advice this would have never happened. I was too hurt to see things clearly. I guess we would be speaking about divorce right now", he said. "So, thank you, I owe you one".

And at that point her phone rang. She quickly picked it up and heard on the other side of the line: "Hey Mom, it´s me, Connor…". Silent tears of relief started to fall from her eyes and she grabbed Drew´s hand for support while she listened to Connor. They held each other hand during the entire conversation, until he was paged from the ER for an urgent procedure.


End file.
